Chapter 59
Beth
Raven Hall’s gray facade gleams, untarnished, in the gentle Fenland sunlight.
As Sadie brings her car to a halt on the gravel, I can’t help thinking of Caroline: the way she drove me here on that first day, fully aware I was her daughter, unmoved by the fact that neither Markus nor I had the faintest idea we were related.
A stocky man with a broad smile bounds down the stone steps—Mr. El Daly, the new owner. And suddenly this visit feels absolutely right.
“You go and look around inside,” I say to Sadie, “but I want to stay out here.” I glance at the lake, thinking of Markus. “I’d like to be by myself, to say good-bye.”
So Sadie and Mr. El Daly head into the house, and I stroll down the grassy decline, remembering all the times I ran down here with Nina and Jonas.
I smile when I think of Jonas; after a lifetime of masking my feelings, I’ve discovered the power of talking, and Jonas is a patient listener.
Only this morning, I rang him about an odd phrase of Nina’s that was niggling at me: I’m not obsessed with Raven Hall like them.
“Why did she say them?” I asked Jonas. “Why not her? As in, Leonora.”
Jonas had given it some thought. “She must have meant Markus, I guess—who else could have been as obsessed with Raven Hall as Leonora?”
I’m not convinced, but perhaps that’s because I like to think better of Markus. As I approach the dock, sunlight dazzles on the water, and my eyes sting at the injustice of not knowing Markus was my father while he was alive. But I remind myself that the future is bright.
A noise up by the house makes me turn, and I see a dark-haired young woman slipping out through the front door. She trots down the steps, and when she notices me watching her, she presses a hand over her heart and gives a startled laugh. I hurry up the grass toward her.
“Sorry!” I call out. “I didn’t mean to make you jump.”
She frowns as I come closer. “Are you from the hot tub company? Only we weren’t expecting you ’til three . . .”
“No, I was just . . .” A glint of jewelry catches my attention, and, without intending to, I reach out. “Do you mind—can I see—?”
Her guarded expression gives way to delight, and she springs forward with her hand outstretched to show off a glittering diamond ring.
“It’s a beauty, isn’t it? We’re getting married next week.
Just a small wedding—my grandmother on my side, and his parents on his .
. . And then I’ll be Mrs. El Daly of Raven Hall. ”
But it’s not her ring I’m gazing at. “No, where did you get your bracelet from?”
“Oh, this?” She hooks up the delicate gold chain.
“From my mum—it’s the only thing she ever gave me.
We’re not close. I mean, she left me with my gran when I was a baby—in an apple basket, of all things.
Gran brought me up. But my mum did show that she cares about me, in her own way, a few months ago.
She dragged me into some crazy plan she’d dreamed up, but then she warned me to leave before it got too dangerous . . .”
She twists the bracelet around to show me the charms.
“Flag iris,” I murmur, trying to hide my astonishment while my mind races to understand the implication of her words.
“Greylag goose. Reed warbler.” Jonas’s question resounds in my ears—Who else could have been as obsessed with Raven Hall as Leonora?
—and my heart pounds with the suspicion that the answer is standing right here in front of me.
“Do you know what I really like about it?” The young woman is still twisting the bracelet, gazing down at it, oblivious to my unease. Her faraway tone is so familiar, I feel I might have stepped thirty-one years into the past, to when I stood talking to Leonora in this very spot.
I shake my head, speechless.
“My gran loves the thought of me wearing this here. She always says this is where we both belong.” She lifts her gaze to my face and blinks a few times, as if she’s emerging from a trance. “Anyway, it’s lovely to meet you . . .”
As her hand reaches for mine, I finally find my voice again. “Beth.”
“I’m Genevieve.” She smiles warmly at me. “Welcome to Raven Hall.”